My name is Matt Sinclair and I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia on 19th October 2005 at the age of 27.
I have written this diary to keep my family and friends informed how things are going with me in Scotland.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

PHOTOS: Me and my little lady in Majorca; Kas, Chloe and I on the Beach; Majorca; Tom, Anne, Kas and Chloe eyeing up the Boats; Kas and Anne at Dinner; Dressed up for the Hotel; Chloe in her highchair; Back home feeding the Ducks; Chloe leading the way; Ish, Amy and Kas in Royal Exchange Square...

That’s certainly been the longest spell between diary entries. I never planned to take a break from jotting my thoughts but it’s been a nice time to take a step back and evaluate life over the past three years. There certainly hasn’t been a shortage of events worthy of commentating but as the cliché goes, a change is as good as a holiday. I guess that depends on the change…

During the balmy Scottish summer we’ve just endured, I think I’ve managed to get my head around my rising 0.43% PCR result, organised our family trip back to Australia this Christmas, been visited by some very good aussie mates Ish and Amy who are now working and living in Kuwait, travelled successfully to Majorca with my two girls, thought I’d suffered a heart attack, stacked on a few kilos after munching fourteen metric tonnes of paella whilst in Spain and been shocked of some news of a fellow Leukaemia sufferer. As per usual, it feels as though I’m piloting a plane through the eye of a tropical thunderstorm…we’re not short of a few ups and downs.

In my last post in June, 0.43% was the new PCR result. It had gone slightly up from the previous 0.3%. At my six-weekly doctor appointment yesterday, the consultants felt as though the two results were the same. It’s not great for them to move up is any way but there has to be trend of three-in-a-row to make any detailed evaluations. After three separate needles to fill up ten vials of blood, I now have the pleasure of waiting another three weeks for the result of this one. The more I get used to being a dad, the more I get desperate to hear good result for myself and get to the 0.1% gold-standard target. Fingers crossed for September! Since commencing my new med Sprycel in May last year and about the time when Chloe was born, I’ve been a little more susceptible to infections – no one really knows what the reason for this is, as all my blood tests show some pretty healthy results. Anyway, my Doctor has also requested a test to see whether my immune system is being jeopardised in anyway because of my meds. It’ll be interesting to hear these results too.

Our recent trip to Majorca with my two girls and my in-laws was a huge success. Just what the doctor ordered – literally. It was just so good to have a healthy dose of a soft, white beach and some heat once again and enjoy the time seeing Chloe, who evidently started walking properly while we were away, playing in the sand and bullying all the little boys who advanced to close. That’s my girl! It was my first sun-seeker trip ‘abroad’ and as it’s only 2 ½ hours away, it’ll be a regular destination for the future. We arrived home on the Wednesday night and before I knew it, I was back on another flight to London getting back into work, filling myself to the brim with caffeine. The next day I spent too much time in some notorious areas of Glasgow that left me feeling pretty tense and uptight – that was the catalyst to start the heart palpitations that lasted a full three hours…long enough for me to get myself to the docs and get a worthy witness to this incident. Before Kas and I knew it, we didn’t depart the hospital until 11pm after receiving ECG’s, a chest x-ray, blood tests and some waiting room entertainment from some boozy neds. Thankfully they ruled out side-effects from my meds, confirmed I had a healthy ticker and that I needed to spend more time in sunny Majorca and less time indulging on frothy cappuccinos.

I feel my body has just got over the shock I forced it to endure on the 3 peaks challenge – the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre and the University of Glasgow were stoked to see so much cash coming their way and because of the £16k donation, they’ve dedicated a cell sorting machine in our name. Apparently it’s a work-horse in the labs and a piece of kit that is essential. Since then, I’ve also cycled in the 13 mile Glasgow Bikeathon and for some unknown reason, put my name down to cycle in the Pedal for Scotland 50 mile ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh in a fortnight’s time. I really need to get fat belly back on the saddle and start clocking up some miles before lobbing up with my mountain bike on the 14th September…

On the news of a fellow Leukaemia ‘sufferer’, it’s that Adrian Sudbury passed away aged 27 years old recently. He was the man behind the very popular ‘Baldy’s Blog’ website and the man who was extremely unlucky to be informed he was diagnosed with two forms of Leukaemia at one time. He fought tirelessly for two years, gallantly promoting the cause for more bone marrow donors to come forward and even receiving a call from the Prime Minister a few weeks ago. He did some great things and I’m sure his legacy will live on – it’s also another chance for anyone to join the bone marrow registry that has thought about it but not yet signed up and give blokes like this a fighting chance.

Wish me luck for the upcoming PCR result and the Pedal for Scotland - I’ll try not leave the blogging for so long next time…